John Gill Commentary Acts 22:25

"And when they had tied him up with the thongs, Paul said unto the centurion that stood by, Is it lawful for you to scourge a man that is a Roman, and uncondemned?" — Acts 22:25 (ASV)

And as they bound him with thongs
To a pillar, in order to be scourged, according to the Roman manner ^F4 . Nor was the Jewish form of scourging much unlike, and perhaps might be now used, which was this; when they scourge anyone they bind both his hands to a pillar, here and there --and they do not strike him standing nor sitting, but inclining ^F5 ; for the pillar to which he was bound was fixed in the ground, and so high as for a man to lean upon ^F6 ; and some say it was two cubits, and others a cubit and a half high {g}: and the word here used signifies an extension, or distension; perhaps the stretching out of the arms to the pillar, and a bending forward of the whole body, which fitly expresses the stooping inclining posture of the person scourged, and was a very proper one for such a punishment: now as they were thus fastening him with thongs to the pillar, and putting him in this position,

Paul said unto the centurion that stood by ;
to see the soldiers execute the orders received from the chief captain:

is it lawful for you to scourge a man that is a Roman, and
uncondemned ?
Though the apostle puts this by way of question, yet he knew full well what the Roman laws were in such cases; he did not put this through ignorance, or for information, but to let them know who he was, and to put them in mind of these laws, and of their duty; for, according to the Porcian law, Roman citizens were not to be beaten ^F8 . Hence, says ^F9 Cicero,

``it is a heinous sin to bind a Roman citizen, it is wickedness to beat him, it is next to parricide to kill him, and what shall I say to crucify him?'' And, according to the Valerian law, it was not lawful for magistrates to condemn a Roman without hearing the cause, and pleading in it; and such condemned persons might appeal to the populace ^F11 .

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FOOTNOTES:

• F4: Lipsius de Cruce, l. 2. c. 4.
• F5: Misna Maccot, c. 3. sect. 12, 13.
• F6: Bartenora in ib.
• F8: Cicero pro Rabirio Orat. 18.
• F9: In Verrem Orat. 10.
• F11: Pompon. Laetus de Legibus, p. 157.